NATIONAL SERVICE BECOMES A KEY ISSUE IN ISRAEL

Factions clash over roles of Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s supersize coalition was showing its first serious signs of stress Friday in its quest for a more universal draft system in Israel.

An effort that has so far focused on phasing out mass army exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews suddenly became more fraught as right-wing nationalist parties decided to press the equally if not more contentious issue of national or civilian service for Israel’s Arab citizens.

The issue is highly provocative. While most Jewish Israelis and Druze men are conscripted at 18, Israeli Arabs are generally not required to perform mandatory military service, though they may volunteer.

Many view the years of military service and reserve duty a burden, but the experience is often a requirement in the job market and it affords certain social and economic benefits.

Arab citizens are entitled to equal rights in Israel but, like minorities in many countries, many experience discrimination. And many Israeli Arabs identify in terms of nationality with the Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip more than with the country’s Jewish majority.

There is still a month to go before the deadline by which the government must come up with an alternative to the Tal Law, passed in 2002, which formalized exemptions for tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews engaged in religious studies. Israel’s Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional and invalidated it in February.

But as the government struggles to come up with a new formula for a more equitable distribution of the burdens of citizenship, Netanyahu, whose recently expanded coalition commands a majority in the 120-seat Parliament, finds himself increasingly squeezed between the secular and religious forces in his government.

Many analysts here saw the political wrangling as a sign of Netanyahu’s weakness and predicted that it was unlikely to result in any drastic change regarding the draft.

Netanyahu’s newest partner, the secular and centrist Kadima Party, is demanding a tougher line on drafting the ultra-Orthodox than others in the coalition will probably tolerate.

One Kadima legislator warned Friday that the issue could tear his party apart.

Meanwhile, the secular, ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu Party led by Avigdor Lieberman, the foreign minister, is championing the cause of obligatory service for Israeli Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of the population of 7.8 million. Netanyahu is in favor of encouraging more Arabs to volunteer for civilian national service, in a gradual process and in dialogue with the Arab community, but he is opposed to compulsory service for Arabs, an aide said.